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You Can't Walk in Light and Darkness · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey, y'all, welcome back to In THE Stillness.
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  This is friendly. Thanks for joining me on this
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  podcast episode. Today we're going to continue
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  our study in First John as we started yesterday, and we're
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  going to take this slow on purpose because these verses are
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  dense to say the least. John writes in a very black and
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  white way, but what he's actually communicating is super
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  theological and pretty life altering if we truly sit with it
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  and let it sink into our hearts. This passage is going to
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  introduce a theme that you'll see throughout his entire book,
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  Light versus darkness, truth versus deception, and real faith
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  versus empty claims. So these are some verses that
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  are not just going to inform you of the truth.
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  It's going to expose, and it's in the best way.
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  It's in a refining, loving way. But I wanted to prep y'all with
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  that because it's very direct and it's words that I don't want
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  us to just glaze over. We need to really sit with it.
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  So we're going to be reading in first John chapter 1 verses 5
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  through 7 today. This is the life giving message
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  we heard Him share and it's still ringing in our ears.
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  We now repeat His words to you. God is pure light.
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  You will never find even a trace of darkness in Him.
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  If we claim that we share life with Him but keep walking in the
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  realm of darkness, we're fooling ourselves and not living the
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  truth. But if we keep living in the
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  pure light that surrounds Him, we share unbroken fellowship
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  with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son continually
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  cleanses us from all sin. OK, the very first thing that
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  John claims is God is light. Meaning God is 100% holy, pure
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  and good. He is reliable.
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  John makes it clear there is not even an ounce of darkness in
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  God. And when you think about it,
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  darkness is simply the absence of light.
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  So wherever there is darkness, God is not present, and where
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  God is fully present, darkness cannot exist.
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  They go hand in hand. So that's why Ephesians 5/8,
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  when it commands us to live as children of light, it's not just
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  about identity, it is a calling. So I just want to reflect and
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  pause for a second. Are we living as children of
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  light or just claiming that identity?
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  And think about it in your own life.
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  Where am I possibly allowing darkness to remain?
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  Now light does something important.
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  It reveals, it exposes. And in the darkness, everything
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  can look the same. It's easy to hide, to blend in,
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  to justify. But when light rushes in, it
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  shows us what is actually there. And that's exactly what Jesus
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  does. He reveals the motives of our
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  hearts, what we're really living for.
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  And I've personally seen this in my own life.
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  I'm not going to go into too much of my testimony, but I was
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  saved from a young age. But for a while, a big chunk of
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  my life I lived for myself. I was carrying the title of
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  Christian, but my life was not fully centered around Jesus.
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  It was more so centered around what friendly wanted and
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  eventually I hit a crossroads. John 14-6.
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  It says Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, not a way.
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  So you cannot walk in your own way and his simultaneously.
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  So let me ask you all this, who am I really living for in my
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  daily decisions, and am I building my life around Jesus or
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  am I just fitting him into my life moving forward, John
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  confronts a false belief that can still exist today.
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  It might be a different wording, but I think we need to be really
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  cautious and careful. It's that you can walk with God
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  and remain in sin. But truthfully, as these verses
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  point out, you cannot say that you love God and continue to
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  pursue darkness. That does not mean perfection,
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  but it means a transformation of desire.
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  Because when you fully grasp the concept of the cross, something
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  shifts. Luke 9 verse 23 says whoever
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  wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their
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  cross daily, and follow me. Obviously this is Jesus speaking
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  in Galatians 5 verse 24, Paul says that those who belong to
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  Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
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  So yes, the flesh is still going to want impure things, but the
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  difference is that we do not live led by our flesh and its
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  desires. As a believer, when you're born
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  again. So think about these things.
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  Am I denying myself or constantly giving in to myself?
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  Am I justifying that? And what is God asking me to lay
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  down today, right now? And this matters because of what
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  Jesus actually did. Sin cannot exist in the presence
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  of a holy God, which means we are completely separated on our
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  own. No amount of being a good person
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  or doing good things for God can fix that.
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  John one verse 29 calls Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away
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  the sin of the world. He is the fulfillment of what we
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  see back in Leviticus for going into sacrifices and how those
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  animal sacrifices, those only temporarily covered sin.
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  But it was foreshadowing what was to come in Jesus.
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  And Jesus did not just cover sin, He completely removed it.
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  Guys, 1st Corinthians 6 verse 20 reminds us you were bought at a
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  price. It was the price of Jesus's
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  precious blood. So your life, it's not your own.
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  And walking the light, it now begins to look like this.
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  We live open and honest before God.
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  What He reveals, what He shows us, we don't ignore, we respond.
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  And that is where conviction sits, not to condemn us, but to
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  correct us, because as we confess our sins, His blood, as
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  it says in those verses, continually cleanses us.
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  Romans 6, verse 4 says we have been given new life, so we don't
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  stay in what we were saved from. First Thessalonians 4, it calls
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  us to live lives that are holy and honorable.
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  So ask yourself, am I living in honest fellowship with God, or
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  am I hiding parts of my life? Do I respond to conviction or am
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  I resisting it because I want to stay comfortable?
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  Y'all, walking in the light does not mean that we're perfect by
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  any means, but it does mean that you're actively pursuing purity
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  in your heart, in your mind, in your motives.
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  And the key is this, you're not striving for it.
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  We abide in Christ. It starts with the desire to be
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  near Him. And God is the one who
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  transforms you. So don't let all of this
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  overwhelm you because it's not in your own doing, it's the
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  Lord. It's the Lord who works on your
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  heart, and it's by His Son, his blood that constantly purifies
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  us. We're just called to come to
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  Him, to be open and honest to his transformation and what He
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  wants to show us. So let's go ahead and closeout
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  in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you
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  for your word that is direct, that rebukes us, that corrects
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  us, but in the best way so that we can become more like you.
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  Thank you, God, that you are light, You are pure, You're
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  good, You're holy. Would you reveal anything in us
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  that is not aligned with you? Give us a desire to walk in your
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  pure light and to not return to what you've called us out of.
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  Thank you Jesus, for your blood that continually cleanses us,
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  that makes a way for us to be close to you, to be in union, to
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  be in fellowship with you and the Father God.
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  We don't want to just claim you, we want to truly live for you.
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  Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus, we love you and we give
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  this day to you in your name. Amen.
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  OK guys, well, that's today's episode.
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  I know that there is just a lot to let sink in, and I'm praying
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  that the Lord continues ministering to your heart and
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  revealing new things to you. But I can't wait to see you on
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  the next episode and to continue this study of first John
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  together. Have a great rest of your day.